DISTURBING! COUPLE STRIPPED, BEATEN UP, FORCED TO WALK NAKED AND VIDEO RECORDED BY LOCALS

A couple was allegedly stripped and brutally thrashed by locals and made to walk naked around the village at Jharkhand’s Dumka on Thursday, police said, reports NDTV.

As per reports in other media outlets such as NDTV India and TV9Bharatvarsh, the couple was a minor girl who was allegedly found in a compromising position with a middle-aged man in the sugarcane fields by the villagers.

The girl had come to attend the wedding of her paternal cousin on Wednesday night but had apparently been lured into the fields by the man at night. The villagers 'caught' them 'red-handed' and launched their vigilante act of thrashing the couple, tearing their clothes and parading them naked the next day around the Saraiyahat market area, reports Times Now.

However, Dumka Superintendent of Police (SP) YS Ramesh claims that local cops found the couple in an "obnoxious situation" and brought them to the Saraiyahat police station. A video of the incident was also recovered during the course of the investigation and a first information report has been lodged, said Ramesh.

The reports also say that the scared mother of the minor girl even had the middle-aged man put kumkum on the girl's forehead, to signify that they were thus married.

Victims have been given proper protection and the accused have been sent to jail under POCSO act, police said.

"In order to further probe the case, SDO has set a camp in the village to take action against those seen in the video. Whosoever is seen in the video, other than the arrested persons, police will take strict action against them," Ramesh said.

On being asked about the villagers' response toward the incident, he said: "It was a social responsibility of villagers to protect the duo but they did not come forward. Thus, we urged them to register an FIR."